"Is it unethical to follow the principles of basic economics and instead ignore the supply and demand curve?"

His question was legitimate: there is no ethical reason that a dealer MUST raise prices of an item just because they CAN. Obviously they can, assuming they don't care if they alienate their customers and send them to internet ammo sales.

The point is I don't want to hear whining about "support your local gun store" when they are gouging every chance they get.

And FYI: when ammo supplies get tight, our local range stops selling ammo to their regular customers to make sure they have enough ammo for their "walk in rentals" who they gouge for range time, targets, ammo, gun rental etc. It's not unusal to see three guys walk in and rent a range for an hour, rent three guns and buy ammo for them and at the checkout get hit for over $150.